War of Lanka (Ram Chandra, #4) by Amish Tripathi

War of Lanka (Ram Chandra, #4) Reviews

• 
  Shreya

  ***Spoiler Alert***
  
  Okay. Let's. Review. This. In. Amish's. Style.
  
  Frustrating right? That's how majority of this book is written.
  Seriously, what was the need to divide a single sentence into 5 smaller ones? It was terrible to read. One word sentences work when used sparingly. But this was used so often that it affected my reading experience. Please use 'commas' Amish!
  
  Sentences and words were repeated over and over to the point that readers would feel frustrated. Tell me how many times I need to know that : 
  
  "Onguiaahra was primarily a dam and not a fort."
  Or
  "Sneaky weasel. But a very, very smart sneaky weasel."
  
  Writing a sentence in different ways will not change its meaning. Stop filling up the pages with repetitive and unnecessary information. 
  
  I stopped counting how many sentences he repeats during this book. 
  
  Let's forget about the writing style and move on to the actual story and characters.
  
  I was hoping this book would blow my mind. I really enjoyed reading Raavan and was hoping Amish would do justice to the character he crafted previously. But no.
  
  Raavan was reduced to nothing but a pitiful character. The fact that he and Sita staged the whole war is beyond me. Total destruction of all major characters and storylines. Not only did it make Ravan look pathetic, it also made Ram look weaker. There were no stakes. No risks. 
  
  Why did you build it up so much when all you wanted to do was make it a one-sided battle? Raavan literally wanted to die and he did nothing else in the whole book. What a wasted potential.
  
  Lets forget the magical and mystical epic we listened to or watched as a kid, because there's nothing mystical here. 
  
  Hanuman doesn't burn Lanka, Hanuman doesn't fly on his own to get sanjeevni, the whole lankan army is poisoned because of faulty engineering, and the most awaited duel between ram and raavan is just a pity because we as readers already know that raavan wants to die!!
  
  "Like ‘All people are decent at their core’. Or ‘All religions are the same and none of them preach hatred’. Or ‘All cultures are worthy of respect’. The truth is ugly. All people are not fundamentally decent. Some are actually good, and some are actually bad. All religions are not the same, and some do preach hatred. Just read their scriptures. Some cultures are better than others. That is reality. Strip the nonsense away and have the courage to see the simple truth."
  
  Really Amish??? That's disrespectful. 
  
  Ohh yeah, Amish learned about the word Jujutsu and tried to put it everywhere in this book. 
  
  "Jujutsu means using your enemies' strength against them" 
  
  I know Amish, you said so 20 times already. It was frustrating enough to read this and see it applied in bizarre scenarios. 
  
  And don't even get me started on dialogues. There were so many descriptions about battle strategy and fighting scenes that he forgot to write about the story. That Amish charm has gone. This book is terrible. 
  
  And I don't usually rant like this. But I really had high hopes and was disappointed. 
  
  I guess enough is said. I'm never reading another Amish book again.
• 
  Nikesh

  Disappointing
  
  Read Amish Tripathi's War of Lanka. Big disappointment.
  
  It have no depth. Amish is confused on how to portray Ravan, the character work is very weak. To justify his deeds, Amish has taken away the soul of the narrative.
  
  There are so many repetitions of same cheap lines. It looks like a 15 year old has read his previous novels and has written a parody.
  
  Chapters are inconsistently written and doesn't seem to be authored by same person. Compulsion of twisting the facts to fit into the universe created in 'Immortals of Meluha' is very evident.
  
  Raavan, Sita and Kumbhkaran bonding over food is just too much to digest. Unnecessary research details into how to get tusk out of elephants kills the interest.
  
  The last novel, Ravana, was also disappointing which have reduced the mighty Raavan to a cheap bollywood mafia type character. This novel sealed the deal by making him a road side dada whose days of glory were over already.
  
  How much the idea of moat and area between the outer and inner wall can be exploited? It seems Amish's imagination has been corrupted during the bogus series on Ramayana on Discovery+.
  
  Bharat and Shatrughan were unnecessarily dragged into a narrative which dilutes the whole idea that Ramji has taken help of ordinary people to defeat the mighty Raavan. If a new more practical narrative was to be built, why just Bharat only, why not other kingdoms also participated.
  
  Also Ram is portrayed as a character who is so apologetic that he keep justifying his actions to everybody and people openly defy him. It has the hints of Yudhishthir's character from Mahabharat. ShriRam was a strong willed, leader of masses and loved & respected by even the enemies. He invoked devotion in others and people didn't feel compelled to follow him just because he was King.
  
  Also why do anybody portray that Bali and Ravan were defeated by Ram because they wanted a good death and not because of Ram's warrior skills and ability?
  
  Vasisht and Vishwamitra were reduced to political characters rather than the great Gurus. Also the narrative and twists are too weak to justify this big creative freedom Amish has taken.
  
  The whole story is riddled with plot holes, the editors has done a poor job making it the worst ever novel by Amish, so far.
  
  Read this novel just in respect of the author who gave us 'Immortals of Meluha' and first 2 novels of Ramchandra series. Not excited about any further work from Amish.
• 
  Vikas Singh

  Fascinating read that gives a completely different perspective. Even though Amish has taken liberties in presenting the narrative from a completely different angle, the central idea of fight between dharma and adharma remains intact. And dharma here is not be confused with western term of religion but rather should be looked upon as way of life.
  
  Spoiler alerts ahead
  
  There are however huge deviations from the conventionally accepted narrative of Ramayan. Narad is trader from Lothal. Vedavati, incarnation of Lakshmi reborn as Sita to punish Ravan for his misdemeanours is presented as Kanyakumari and love of Ravana. Sursa , one of the twelve daughters of Daksha is love struck with Hanuman in the book. The rivalry between Vasishta and Vishwamitra over Kamdhenu is completely washed away in the book. Rather their rivalry is over who will be Vishnu-Ram or Sita. The Bali-Sugreev enmity has a very different reason in the book. The presence of all four brothers in the battle with Ravan made me wonder how much creative liberty can an author take? Even the death of Ravan in duel with Ram is completely different here
  
  The book is a good read for someone who has not read the Critical or the Gita Press editions of Ramayan. For those who have read the book could be a huge let down. But if you ignore the difference in narratives, it comes across as a book who would love to read again and again.
  
• 
  Veda

  —-25 Nov Edit ——
  
  Forgot the most important part!
  
  Something that I grapple with is differentiating between the act and the person. There are times when it’s quite a struggle for me to condemn the act and simultaneously continue to respect the person for the(ir) rest. Amish has subtly and deftly shown how one can do so and be so. Am I making sense? This book throughout was a beautiful, beautiful, example of how one can condemn an act and continue to love that person, or atleast not villainise that person as a whole. Something that I am guilty of at times. I mean in one of my recent notes here, I called a person evil. Clearly this book gave me a lot to think about.
  
  —— Original Note——
  
  To be honest, I didn’t enjoy the book in the beginning. I picked this up immediately after finishing the one on Raavana, and found quite a few bits repetitive. To add to that, I just couldn’t warm up to the writing style. Moreover, the liberty that has been taken to twist certain story lines/tracks within the Ramayana is something that didn’t appeal to me. If you would have asked me to rate the book at that point, I would have probably said ‘not more than a star’.
  
  So what changed? It was the strong underlying dharmic philosophy throughout. I got sucked in despite my feelings about everything else. Specially, that chapter that has the conversation between Vishwamitra, Valmiki, and …. I strongly believe that this is something that every Hindu should read. I couldn’t help think about what is currently happening in the society as I was reading that part. Absolutely thought-provoking and gave me a perspective on the big picture of what’s taking place or rather what’s ailing the society.
  
  Some of the philosophical bits towards the end moved me so much that I teared up, this probably has to do more with my emotional state than anything else. Nevertheless, that I got so moved despite not warming up to the storyline and the writing, says quite a bit about the author’s skills or rather his grasp on (Hindu) philosophy.
  
  I will definitely pick up his non-fiction works at some point or the other, and his future fiction works for all the reasons I mentioned above.
  
  So, there you go. 4 stars.
  ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• 
  Aniruddha Rege

  I have no idea what happened to Amish since the Shiva Trilogy, but this ain't it! The Shiva Trilogy was an enjoyable read, even though I felt The Oath of the Vayuputras was far too long. In hindsight, those were the first signs of an author becoming too engrossed and enamoured by his own writing, to the extent that it starts hindering the story itself.
  
  The War of Lanka reveals an author who has been on that path for quite some time now. The story should have been a tightly woven conclusion to the first three parts of the much -touted multi-linear narrative, focussing on Ram, Sita and Raavan. Instead, it becomes a lumbering tale bogged down by sudden deep-dives into Amish's philosophical lessons.
  
  As a result, characters start talking in ways which no regular human being would do, as they discuss the brilliance of Amish's philosophical thought. It's a self-masturbatory journey into his mind, where every philosophical thought and battle strategy (no doubt devised /researched by Amish) is touted as Brilliant, Epic, Genius etc. It becomes quite tiresome after the 1st 100 pages in a 450 page novel.
  
  Another gripe I kept having with the novel was its language. I always get the feeling that indian authors who try to cater to the masses suffer massively in the use of English in terms of vocabulary, flow, eloquence etc. Amish displays this fully here, as the sentence, dialogues and action sequences come across as clunky, and lacking any real-world flow to the events.
  
  Also, the fact that characters in the Ramayan go around calling each other Bro, Hanu Bhaiya / Hans (for Hanuman), oafs etc. was more than enough to take me out of the book, and cringe hard!
  
  Overall, if this book weren't part of a larger series, it would be easy to give it a complete miss. It's indistinguishable from the other 100 books around mythological retellings that have flooded the market in the last decade.
  
  If you're like me and cannot not complete a series, then best make it a quick read, like ripping off a band-aid.
• 
  Manish Kumar

  I am aghast; what a poor project this was and an utter waste of time and wait.
  The mighty characters that should have come out are laid to the ground and neutralised.
  With this series I was seeing the characters in a new light but with this book the author went too far.
  I don’t write negative reviews specially putting words to the negatives, but I’m obliged to as I did suggest this series to colleagues and friends.
• 
  Krutika Puranik

  Mythology is a tricky genre to nail. To take an already familiar story and add a new spin to it, all the while trying to keep the essence of the story intact requires great skill. My introduction to mythology novel was through Amish’s Shiva trilogy. I devoured them back in college, his words conjuring up images of Shiva and Sati so vividly that it felt like I was watching a movie. The thing with venturing into mythology genre is that there is absolutely no scope for the author to let their guard down. The benchmark they set becomes so high that only they can shatter it. Unfortunately, it is in this regard that War of Lanka has failed terribly.
  
  The biggest flaw of this book was its writing. It seemed amateurish, with all signs of his previous work nowhere in sight. The characters lacked depth with even Raavan being portrayed as a slightly dim man. As I read, I kept waiting for Amish to redeem this story at some point but to my utter dismay, it never happened. The novel was hurried with little to no attention to detail, no strong storyline and terrible sentence formations. Compared to the Shiva trilogy, this book has quite a lot of loopholes. It was such a shame to see powerful characters like Sita and Ravana himself being reduced to half of their original potential.
  
  Although the previous books were decent, this was a miss. Perhaps he wasn’t ready to bring this story to life yet. Editing most certainly needs polishing and I personally felt that this was a completely rushed attempt at publishing a novel that needed more work to be done on it.
  
  I do hope that his next book is well researched and executed.
• 
  Spandana

  I had been eagerly waiting for this book for years. Though I am satisfied with the storyline, this is the first book where I did not like Amish writing style. Many places, it felt like repetitive. Things were getting repeated too many times. Ram had been linked with dharma many times than I can count. Though in earlier books, he had been liked with rules again and again, it was not this much repetitive.
  Somehow, though I like Ram story (Ramayana in general) better, I liked his writing style (and felt it was better) in Shiva trilogy, which was so good comparatively.
• 
  book_withquotes

  
  
  
  Greed. Rage. Grief. Love. War-starting kindling that is simmering. But this conflict is unique. It’s for Dharma, this one. This conflict is being fought for by the most powerful Goddess. Sita has been taken, hostage. She defiantly challenges Raavan to murder her since she would rather die than let Ram give in. Ram is overcome with sorrow and wrath. He gears up for battle. His fuel is anger. His compass was calm attention. Raavan believed he was unstoppable. He believed that he could bargain his way to a capitulation. He had no idea what would transpire. Will Ram, who is restricted by the Dharmic rules, be able to fight the cruel Raavan? Lanka will either fight back like a caged tiger or burn to cinders. Will the victory be worth the awful price of war? What matters most is: Will Vishnu ascend? Will the actual adversaries of the country be frightened by Vishnu?
  
  I like some of the character development, notably that of Raavan, and the way the entire plot was handled. At times, the intellectual profundity astounded me. He put a lot of effort into making the combat exciting. Additionally, he boldly made intriguing alterations to the plot and the characters. The linkages to the Sindhu-Saraswati culture would be fascinating to history lovers. The result was a fascinating and rewarding read. Amish has fully embraced his creative freedom, virtually rewriting the whole Ramayan in his own words. Amish ensures that you still acquire a few new terms without too much problem by using highly forceful and warm language while narrating the narrative, so you won’t need to rush for the dictionary.
  
  For our younger generation to study and learn about the Hindu epics, I hope Amish will fictionalize and reteach them all. I appreciate how each of the godlike figures we have heard of and admired has been made human. Additionally, I believe it’s time for him to add fresher features to his world-building to heighten the reading experience and provide more enjoyment. I thought that few characters were wasted, but most of the characters were employed effectively. Compared to the entirety of the plot, the post-war period likewise felt hurried. There were still a few unexplored paths, which may or may not be covered in the upcoming book. The book is a fantastic read overall.
• 
  A Man Called Ove

  4.5/5 This was the best book of Amish’s writing career for me. The philosophical depth at times floored me. He worked hard on making the battles interesting (unlike the lazy movie PS-1). And he confidently made interesting changes to the story and characters. To history-buffs, the connections to Sindhu-Saraswati civilisation (and his own Shiva Trilogy too) will be delightful. All made for an engrossing and satisfying read.
  Having said that there were some flaws :-
  A) The changes to Raavan’s character arc made war seemed a bit forced. Like me, most readers will be reading this 2-3 years after the prev book “Raavan” and perhaps he needed to add a couple of events involving Raavan in the beginning here to make it convincing.
  B) The use of the term “Mother India” repeatedly by the characters was bizarre for a story set in 3400 BC . So were the references to Seneca and Bhas who lived a few thousand years later. Easily avoidable mistakes.
  Overall, I loved it and finished it in a couple of days.
• 
  Ashwini

  This was a fast read, mostly because it has no parts where I had to pause and think or wonder or marvel. Also I have so many questions! Most of them are “whyyyyy?!” And “WHAT?!!”
  
  I’ve read and heard many versions of Ramayana including the original, many takes on it, but this one was a little hard to digest. The first three books in the series were still ok, but War on Lanka seemed forced, like Amish Tripathi just wanted to get it over with. 🫤
• 
  Trilochan Mahapatra

  I have read previous books of Amish Tripathi and I can undoubtedly say that Amish was the author who introduced me to Indian Mythological fiction and with time, piqued my interest in this genre. Shiva Trilogy remains to be one of my favorites till date and certainly the most favourite trilogy of all time. I read the first three books of Ram trilogy with the sole reason that I believed Amish would provide a new perspective to the orthodox beliefs of Hindu religion about Ramayana, just as he had done with Shiva Trilogy, mixing widely believed facts with fascinating fiction backed up by undefiable science. And he was the first author who introduced many Indian readers to the writing style called 'Multi Linear narrative' in which a connection brings many characters together at the end of the plot, while each character explores their own world individually and simultaneously, and heads towards a common endpoint. This writing style, as I later explored, was famously used by other Indian authors in mythological fiction genre such as Kevin Missal with his Kalki Trilogy (honestly, no other novel could explore this writing style better because there are not many trilogies in the world of Indian Mythological fiction and this style of writing needs nothing short of a trilogy at the least). While reading the Ram Chandra series by Amish, true to my expectation, the writing style was multi-linear narrative just like the Shiva Trilogy and I was excited to relive Ramayana from a new perspective. All the three books of this series had me hooked to the seat because there were so many minute details in every character and every page of the book which are not explored in a traditional TV series. And since I read the Raavan book in 2020, I have been eagerly waiting for the fourth installment of this series because finally all the complex characters of Ramayana will meet the final ground while continuing to display their complex characters to the fullest extremes.
  
  However, my disappointment after reading 'War of Lanka' is profound and beyond words. Before I begin with my speculations about why this book turned out to be a disappointment, let me point out the flaws. The fine complexity in each character that was carefully established in the previous three books was not utilized to the fullest extent. Ram remains to be the forlorn husband, pining at the loss of her wife and attempting every means to free her from the clutches of evil Raavan. He is portrayed as just, dutiful and dharmic who loves his brothers and is loved back by them in equal measure. Doesn't every Indian who has read or watched Ramayana at least once know these three traits of Ram? Where are other character traits of Ram that were staged in the first book? Sita is shown as a nimble, fragile woman trapped in Lanka who is besotted with the story of her birth mother narrated by Raavan and in turn is attached implicitly to Raavan whom she sees as a vulnerable soft hearted human. All that is fine but where is the warrior Sita that was introduced in the second book? Why is she reduced to only a powerless, love struck woman waiting for her husband who she believes to be the next Vishnu. What about the prophecy where she was believed and accepted as the Vishnu and not Ram? Finally, Raavan was introduced as a multi-layered, complex, raw human in the third book, someone who was betrayed by fate and has only met hardships which made him stronger with time. Why was his character reduced to a mere besotted old man whose aim was only to narrate the story of his beloved to Sita and willingly accept his death in the hands of Ram even before he walked into Lanka with his army? Was Raavan nothing but a petty human who gave up without putting up a fight? This is in stark contrast to everything that our traditional Ramayana teaches us about the character of Raavan. Although I believed that Raavan cannot be simply reduced to an embodiment of evil, but had complex characteristics, this final book reduced him to a mere stupidity, a fool. And there were many such characters that were left unexplored such as Hanuman, Vali, Sugreev, Vibhishan, Angad, to name a few. The list becomes endless if I begin to point out at all the unexplored territories of the book which could have framed the plot more subtly, keeping the reader hooked till the very end.
  The entire book felt like a narration of war, of the preparations that go into the war, of the strategies, emotion and pointless conversations. True to its name, the book only talks about war and everything involved in it, such as the dimensions of a fort, the design of a bridge, the secret tunnel and the hills surrounding it. These details can be visually entertaining but to a normal reader, these details are immaterial as they are hard to imagine. Instead what a reader would love to read is the interesting revelations in the plot, the twists and turns and the unfolding of the story. None of that existed and each chapter was predictable beyond measure.
  
  I have never preferred Ramayana over Mahabharata, purely from a reader's standpoint because Ramayana has a linear storyline with linear characters that gives a simple message of victory of good over evil, while Mahabharata has complex characters displaying multitude of emotions and traits while the story unfolds with each chapter. True to this reason, you will find more mythological fiction books on Mahabharata than Ramayana. But I believed that if any author could write about Ramayana in a way that captivates the readers and can showcase the complexity of each character involved, although limited, it had to be Amish. But with the disappointment that has overtook me after reading this book, I am forced to wonder if Ramayana truly is extremely linear and unsuitable for writing complex, intriguing novels unlike Mahabharata. I also cannot undeniably question the declining writing style of Amish and I hope, for all the goodness of the reading world, that he finds the old writer in him who knew when to write about the forts, rivers, bridges and when to stick to story to avoid sounding like a history teacher.
• 
  Santosh Jha

  This is 4th book in the series and I am not very impressed by the book due for many reasons.
  The first and foremost reason is the characterization of Ravan, From the start to the end, it showed as Ravan already knew as in he just showed little to no interest to fight back. That makes the whole war thing kind of a planned and dull act only, He never had a range of emotions like rage or vengeance even though his brother and son died. he moment at any war situation one side kind of surrenders, the story is never able to hold you for the big thing or any big reveal or any big planning.
  Second, the much-anticipated saga of Vashishta and Vishwamitra, Which kind of being set up in the last book, has Never been utilized fully, They just have a glimpse here and there. In the last part, this duo was set up as the mastermind behind all these conflicts and they know how this will go, In this book, both are just there and both were not able to do any significant influence in the war.
  The third and last thing I didn't like is, the WAR setup takes a long time which is understandable but WAR seems to be in such a hurry, that it seems like the author is in too hurry to complete all the important and significant things from Ramayana and make it done asap.
  
  But above all, as we all know Ramayana and how it goes. the author's attempts to rewrite the saga are praiseworthy. Writing is easy.
• 
  Shubham Tanwar

  The end of a genre(?) - War of Lanka tries to bank on the same revivalistic tones of earlier work but what it's predecessors had and it doesn't is the exploration of various aspects of "character", often tying people into rigid personas.
  
  The book itself is shoddily researched and haphazardly strung together with reinvented theology. Amish delves deep into the orgy of naming and Sanskrit phrase-throwing without giving readers a page worth of emotion or connection to the characters.
  
  The historical quotations from philosophers from 3rd century BCE Greece or 18th century Germany break the flow and placement of the story and at the same time destroying the end "connect" to Meluha that the author attempts
  
  Various aspects of warfare are incorrectly imagined and repeated multiple times showing a simple and cursory understanding of medieval warfare at best. Postulating arrows flying off accurately from a modern day helicopter-like-vehicle (Pushpak Vimaan) is just more shoddy writing.
  
  Disappointed.
• 
  Rakesh Ravi

  Being a fan of Amish, the Ramchandra series has given me absolute glee by portraying the stories we have heard as a child through a scientific lens.
  Also, with Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta ending with an absolute banger, the 4th book of the series had gathered attention even before Amish could even finish it.
  
  But were all my expectations got fulfilled? was the hype worth it? -- NO!!!
  
  Of course, Amish never misses out his subtle way of explaining intricate details, and when he does it, the whole scene becomes a treat for a reader.
  The book is packed with few of those scenes were Amish apart from addressing nuance details, tried to break the 4th wall.
  
  Yet, i personally felt the book was not meeting the expectations because of the following,
  
  1. With the previous book developing Raavan's character to a great level, this one just reduced him to a mere normie wanting to die in hands of Ram
  2. The repetition of lines caused a tint of irritation - "That Vibhishan may be a sneaky weasel, but a very smart sneaky weasel" (yeah dude u told me that a dozen times already!!)
  3. The luck factor always being on the side of Ayodhyan forces throughout the book made Ram and his associates look weaker
  
  in a nutshell, despite his style of rendering a knitting tale of mythology and science, war of Lanka missed to utilize the potential it had. The result being just another story for acquiescence
• 
  Udit Nair

  It was an interesting read and I liked reading fiction after a long time. It's true that we Indians can never get bored of Ramayana and are ready to go through so many retellings and interpretations. I still feel the story can be developed bit more. I feel the 3rd book in this ram chandra series was probably the best and that still continues to be the case. The character arc of ravaan could have been explored more but that's just my view. Overall it's a nice read and one can sit with the whole series.
• 
  Rubal Mittal

  Definitely below par it's predecessors.
  Well, Amish had the script pre-ready and he had to just mold the instances into the pseudo-scientific logics he has built in. Still the story drags with unnecessary attempts to force fit things.
  
  I appreciate Amish, Chetan etc to bring reading to the masses. But horrible writing needs to be called out.
  I will just say in the words used by Amish' Sita: "Woah".
• 
  manasa

  ngl i was so excited for this and then...this entire book happened.
  
  no for real i'm so mad. like the first three books had me INVESTED, i was just WAITING to see what was gonna happen next i mean i knew what was gonna happen next cause this is based off an indian epic but like the plot purposes and storytelling is a thing okay
  
  im so disappointed. i expected so much more. WHERES THE DRAMA. WHERES THE ACTION. this entire story felt like the reading equivalent of chewing on a piece of untoasted plain white bread.
  
  no seriously, actual sawdust, idk if i even wanna read the next book anymore (i think there is one? i'm not invested enough to check)
• 
  Bhavna

  Magnificent....
  The best thing in Amish books that it blend science so well in the writings. The making of Ramsetu, war strategies, pushpak viman and many other things are a perfect blend of science and history and the genius brain of author.
  It is written so well that even Ravan's death will bring tears in the eyes of readers.
  The humors, the emotions everything feels so real.
  
  The feeling that you want to know the coming things so eagerly and at same time not to end story or finish the book, is kind of best feeling that a reader can have. And this is one such story.
  
  And yes I wait eagerly for the Rise of Meluha.
• 
  Riddhi Kishnadwala

  This did not feel like reading
  Amish Tripathi at all. I missed his earlier writing style of the the Shiva Trilogy. The book is too long and could be at least a 100 pages shorter. Also, too much space is given for details which end up reducing the impact of the story, for example, almost 10-15 pages are spent on the engineering details of bridge building. The character of Hanuman is not given the importance it had in the original story.
  I had high expectations from this book, but sadly those were not fulfilled. Hopefully, the next book will be better.
• 
  Gayatri Iyer

  While a book having a majority of its story describing a war should have been glorious, I felt that this book seemed more like an information dump than telling the war story. All of the characters seemed one-dimensional.
  
  I'm hoping the next book makes up for it with the cunning and strategic manoeuvres that was somehow missed here.
  
• 
  Abhilash Ruhela

  25th Book of 2022
  
  Binge-watching subsequent seasons of your favorite web-series is easy as you can fast-forward the unwanted scenes and complete it within a day. But it is very difficult to finish reading a book which is part of a series as you can’t skip the sentences and have to read everything with utmost concentration and devotion. And it becomes further tough when the book is of almost 475 pages. Yes, I am talking about the latest release of Amish Tripathi’s book named “War of Lanka” which is the 4th book in the Ram Chandra series. For this book, Amish has made his readers wait for more than 3 years hence there has been high expectations from it. I have been lucky enough to be present at the launch of this book and own an author-signed copy of it. The excitement has been such that I completed reading it within 2 days as I couldn’t stop myself from knowing how the things will unfold further in the story.
  
  As we know Amish had experimented with the hyperlink concept with the first 3 books where each of them told stories of Ram, Sita and Raavan respectively from their birth till the kidnap of Sita by Raavan. The story finally merges with this book and takes it ahead from there. Amish has utilized the power of creative liberty completely as he has almost rewritten the whole Ramayan in his own version. It was evident in the 1st 3 books and this one just makes you smile at incidents where you expect things to unfold the way you have read/seen them but Amish throws a googly and you are surprised with a completely new take upon the same. I would like to mention few of them: For e.g. Hanuman lifting the mountain for Sanjivani angle has been transformed – the conversation between Sita and Raavan are friendly in Ashok Vatika – Ram Setu being referred as Nala Setu – Vali’s death – Sita’s birth – Ram’s brothers’ involvement in the war, Ram-Sabri meeting etc.
  
  Amish has used a very commanding and friendly language to narrate the story as you’ll not have to run for the dictionary – though he ensures you still learn few new words without much trouble. Author has purposely created small sentences so that it becomes easier for readers to navigate while reading - I like how Amish doesn’t care a bit about what Grammar Nazis would say on the way he writes sentences without a proper form and uses punctuation marks as per his convenience. From his writings, it is evident that he cares for reader’s ease rather than impressing the elites. His descriptions are so powerful that he makes you visualize the whole personas and scenes and find yourself in the same era. You’ll even feel that you are the character who is being discussed because of the way Amish provides details – let them be as small or miniscule as possible. It’s almost as if you are blind and someone is narrating the whole movie to you without missing a single second of it.
  
  I am glad that Amish has shared the whole list of characters in the beginning which had initially scared me regarding how many times will I have to refer to this page but I must tell you – I didn’t have to do it even once. I am equally impressed with the execution as even if you haven’t read the 1st 3 books, you will still not have to worry much because author, very intelligently, tells all the important details briefly before proceeding ahead with a certain important character/scene. The use of adjectives and adverbs did mesmerize me- Tripathi uses it wonderfully in defining the characters, actions, sequences, locations, monuments, expressions and everything under the sky. One must read this book to learn how to use adjectives/adverbs in our writings/conversations.
  
  As we have often heard that our epics are not only about the story but it teaches us many aspects – author ensures that even his version does justice to it. There are good amount of geographical references which will make you feel as if you are traveling to all these places yourself. Even the way geo-political angle is covered helps you understand the challenges of people living there plus how it’s affecting the current situation of the characters. He doesn’t even shy away from quoting references from other cultures and you’ll find important insights/terms discussed from other epics and religious references too. Unlike Mahabharata, Ramayan has always been more about preparation of the war than the war itself and while narrating the same, there are multiple scientific inclusions made which gives us an insight how things weren’t as easy as it sounds. Amish takes enough time to explain how the bridge between Southern India and Lanka was built using science rather than just throwing the stones which starts floating right away.
  
  Amish’s magic is using the philosophical aspect to speak about his belief on certain topics which is either everyone’s interest or enough relevant with our contemporary times. Particularly in this book it mostly happens when legendary characters are talking among themselves such as Sita-Raavan, Raavan-Indrajit, Raavan-Kumbhakarna, Vishwamitra-Vashishtha or there’s some flashback being discussed which doesn’t have anything to do with the current timeline but it’s like a good break for the readers to read some philosophy and then get back to the War zone. Haha! Author uses references of surgical strike, corona pandemic, vaccinations and its distribution to the needy outsiders, elitism, nepotism, Sabrimala etc. which helps you relate better.
  
  Now talking about the drawbacks- I would start with the length of the book which Amish is gradually increasing with each book. Raavan was of around 375+ pages whereas this one is 100 more pages. Frankly, War of Lanka could have very easily been summed up within 350 pages if author had thought of letting go of few sentences used for over-describing situations or scientific concepts or war strategies. There are few sections which are exhaustive and eventually become boring such as building of Setu, entry into Onguiaahra, setup of Army etc.
  
  The main heroes of Ramayan are Ram and Sita, obviously, but unfortunately, you will be surprised to know that there’s very less of both- Ram and Sita in this book. It’s more about the 3 brothers of Ram, Kumbhakarna, Indrajit, Mareech etc. Even Hanuman doesn’t have a great role the way it’s in the Valmini Ramayan. This was quite shocking for me as I believed Amish would portray Ram similar to how he did it with Shiva in the Shiva Trilogy and make us feel about the Larger-than-life presence of him on the planet. But nothing sort of that happens. Also eliminating few great characters or reducing their role gives a sense of incompleteness such as Jamvant, Sugreev, Angad etc. When an author tweaks an epic story like Ramayan, and when he is as popular as Amish Tripathi, we expect the story to be at least 75% as exceptional as the original but it’s not the case here. Even Raavan’s character has been underplayed where unlike the Valmiki’s Ramayan, he is aware that he’ll die right from the 1st day and he’s being extra-sweet with everyone. It is just not relatable at all.
  
  Overall, I will still rate Raavan as the best book in the Ram Chandra series but saying that, the way story has been left incomplete in this book post the war of Ramayan, there’s an excitement to know what will Amish bring in the next and the last book of this series. My gut feeling says that it is going to be the best book in this series and also, maybe, Amish’s best work till date. Let’s wait and watch. I give this book 4 stars out of 5 – not great but not average either.
  
  Thanks!
  
  WRITING BUDDHA
  
• 
  Neel Shah

  The characters in this book quote Seneca, Schopenhauer and Fontaine (time travel much?). There are detailed descriptions of how ants can be used for torture, and of individual muscles in the human body. Ravan and Sita enjoy a nostalgic chat over poha and idli-sambar (I kid you not).
  
  Amish is a condescending author, and this reflects in his writing and in his characters. Every character is detached and all-knowing, and yet has a forced Gunda-like (huehuehue) peculiarity which exists simply to keep the story going. In a failed attempt to rationalize the story, he has stripped it bare of the philosophical subtleties. The story does not make sense even if read by keeping the Ramayan aside.
  
  While I enjoyed 'The Immortals of Meluha', it has been a downhill journey ever since. And it ends in this trainwreck.
• 
  Livre_monde

  How many of you in India got this book only because of Amish's name on the cover? 
  
  
  If you bought this, hopefully, you would have read the previous 3 books in the Ram Chandra series as well. How did you find this book (and the previous ones)?
  
  
  Well, having read the Shiva trilogy and now the Ram Chandra series, one thing I have understood is that Amish does really great starting with the first book of the series but with each subsequent book, the storyline and narration just start degrading. It happened with the Shiva trilogy and has happened with the Ram Chandra series too. 
  
  
  While I like Amish's way of reimagining and explaining Hindu mythologies and mythological characters from a more practical and logical point of view which seems more believable, it hurts to see the original storyline of the great epics being changed and degraded in an attempt of being creative and making the book more saleable and ready for being adopted on the screen. 
  
  
  In the last book of Ram Chandra Series, War of Lanka, if we just try to ignore the above, one can't ignore irritatingly funny dialogues where Sita addresses Ravan as "Ravan Ji" and Hanuman as "Hanu bhaia"? And someone else who has a crush on Hanuman calls him "Hans". Really? That's not the kind of dialogue we expect in the retelling of great epics like Ramayana. Well, one could justify that "Ravan Ji" or "Hans" is in line with the story that Amish is narrating, but that's where he went wrong. He just changed the crux of a great epic in an attempt to re-imagining things. Just imagine Sita and Ravan having a hearty talk in Ashok Vatika and all the above will be justified :)
  
  
  Let us ignore even this. How can one ignore the extremely slow pace and the poor narration which is just unable to hold the reader glued to the book? I literally struggled (thinking several times to DNF) and breathed a sigh of relief when I reached the last page. Amish, where did your magic go?
  
  
  While this book did not click well with me, I have seen some great reviews coming in as well from fellow bloggers. Probably this book was just not meant for me. If you have already bought this book, let me know how you find it. If you have read the previous 3 books in this series, go ahead and conclude the story in this last book and let me know if you feel the same as I felt.